A Utah hunter was on the mend Wednesday after surviving a gunshot wound from man’s best friend - yes, a dog.
While authorities don't know all the particulars, this much is certain, hospital crews had to extract 27 pellets of birdshot from the man, according to news reports.
The incident happened over the weekend when two men and a canine set up to go duck-hunting in the Great Salt Lake near a bird refuge outside Brigham City, according to CNN affiliate KSL.
Before the hunting could commence, one of the men, a 46-year-old from Brigham City, got out of his boat and laid his 12-gauge shotgun across the bow of the vessel, KSL reported.
From there, it gets weird.
"The dog got excited, was jumping around inside the boat and then it jumped on the gun. It went off, shooting the (man) in the buttocks," Box Elder County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Kevin Potter told the Salt Lake City Tribune. The man was apparently setting up decoys when the gun went off, said Potter.
But how – exactly – did this happen?
The dog "did something to make the gun discharge," Potter told KSL. "I don't know if the safety device was on. It's not impossible the dog could have taken it off safety," he was quoted as saying.
Sunday's accident wasn't the only strange occurrence over the Thanksgiving weekend involving outdoorsmen. In North Carolina, fishermen encountered a great white shark - but it didn't shoot them.
But I bet you when his friends ask him what kind of dogs he has he says "Hunting Dogs" so he was just living up to his stereotype.
i go hunting all the time with my grandpa and his's dog and to think the gun went off when the dog did something i dont think so.
When he got shot....did he scream out.....YOU SOB......?
LOL
I have seen dogs step on shot guns and blow holes in trucks. The gun is laying flat on the left hand side, the dog steps on the safety pushing it across and ready to fire and while dancing around steps on the trigger.,,,but catching him full bore in the butt,,,,I would have to ask where the other guy was when this happened. I wonder if the man who was shot was fooling around with the other guys wife?
I suppose I could understand if you saw this ONCE, but –
"I have seen dogs step on shot guns and blow holes in trucks." So, you have seen this happen SEVERAL TIMES? Your friends wouldn't be name Curley and Moe, would they?
Larry, for your safety, I'd get a different group of friends to hunt with, these current ones are as dumb as wood.
I made my dog take a firearms safety course when he was just a pup...
haha, i love the last paragraph In North Carolina, fishermen encountered a great white shark – but it didn't shoot them. haha
What a moron!! "Somehow the gun went off!" Why do people listen to this rationalization that somehow guns go off. I hunt and when my gun is not in my hands, the chamber is empty, no matter how determined my gun is to 'go off' it won't. And the dog would have to be pretty damn determined to grow a pair of thumbs to load it just so it could shoot me.. This moron did not follow safety procedures and laid a loaded gun down and got just what he deserved.
I just noticed, CNN put this in the justice section, Pretty darn funny as justice is exactly what the gun owner got
The justice being, Every dog has his day.
The hunter got what he deserved for blaming all his farts on the poor dog.
And the revolution of dogs begin.
I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks!
The Planet of the Dogs. How it all began.
It sounds like this hunter got a taste of his own medicine. Now he knows how the animals feel when he shoots them.
True, Jon. Good for him. I hope he's scarred.
Give me a brea "man's best friend" did not shoot him, his own negligence caused him to be shot (he loaded the gun and he left the loaded gun laying around). Human error once again (the dog should be passive in the article).
* Give me a break